Green Building Council Australia Selects Australia ’s Most Progressive Green Buildings As New Home

GBCA moves to Australia’s first large scale carbon-neutralcommunity precinct, International Towers at Barangaroo

20 July 2017, Sydney, Australia: International Towers at Barangaroo will soon be home to the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), as the industry association joins the growing innovation community being established within Tower Two and Tower Three International Towers.

GBCA CEO Romilly Madew said alongside the tower’s Green Star rating, the GBCA selected International Towers at Barangaroo because of its commitment to creating an environment which promotes high performance innovation and can support the organisation’s growth into the next decade. The GBCA’s move comes after exploring tenancy options with its members.

“There is an exciting new business ecology being cultivated within International Towers and we are thrilled to participate in this as a foundation tenant. We look forward to moving into a business community anchored on diversity, high performance, wellbeing and innovation – characteristics that we believe are pillars of a sustainable future,” Ms Madew said.

Tower Two and Tower Three International Towers is taking a curated approach to tenancy, selecting diverse organisations with a commitment to innovation, sustainability, collaboration and community. International Towers General Manager, Tony Byrne, said the GBCA relationship is a purposeful alliance.

“The GBCA is passionately committed to positive impact and progressive thinking and we are excited about what it can contribute to our growing community of innovation-focused tenants,” said Mr Byrne. “There is mounting evidence that high performance cultures are also very human cultures which incorporate a powerful sense of community. Within Tower Two and Tower Three International Towers we are designing uniquely flexible, open floor plans, workspaces and shared spaces that encourage collaboration both within and across organisations,” he said.

“International Towers’ flexible, open floor plans and shared spaces will enhance the collaboration within our teams and with other like-minded organisations, in turn driving new levels of service and opportunities for our members and the industry,” Ms Madew adds.

Joining the GBCA, within its tenancy, will be the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA) – the national industry and advocacy group for Australia’s major shopping centre owners, managers and developers.

Elements of the International Towers Placemaking Model

The International Towers placemaking model responds to workplace cultures that have shifted away from rigid constructs and hierarchical models, towards more informal, social experiences which inspire more innovative and creative thinking and create a powerful sense of belonging.

Designed by globally-renowned architects, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and developed by Lendlease, International Towers feature an abundance of natural light and sweeping vistas and wide open spaces. The circular building design, coupled with the egalitarian nature of the interior layouts, means all staff can have access to generous amounts of natural lighting, plus enviable harbour and city views – and there is quite literally no ‘corner office’.

Leading Australian interiors architect firm Geyer has been working with International Towers over the past year, developing this powerful new enterprise community model which brings workers of Tower Two and Tower Three International Towers together in a dynamic innovation ecosystem that inspires growth, collaboration and employee satisfaction.

Tower Two and Tower Three International Towers community tenancies are being designed to allow organisations the flexibility to expand and contract rapidly and efficiently. International Towers allows tenants to use a ‘kit of parts’ approach to create their spaces. Key elements within the floor plates and design allow teams to continually expand and contract beyond their core space – depending on the organisation’s needs and focus.

Work environments are designed to encourage and inspire cross-functional team interaction – including open spaces, visible gathering spaces, transparent meeting rooms and connectivity between staff areas and event tenancies.

There are many design elements between tenancies which encourage collaboration, connection and mobility. This includes a clever arrangement of lift cores coupled with the introduction of communal spaces where people can gather and co-create, as well as quiet spaces to focus and imagine. International Towers also features a unique ‘Companionway’ – a shared connection between floors and tenancies which offers opportunities for shared work spaces, social catch-ups and special events.

The International Towers team has introduced a strong service culture within the building which includes a year-round calendar of curated, whole of community events which offer cross-pollination and continuous learning opportunities to tenants and their people.

“We are aiming to create a knowledge sharing environment and community which has some of the buzz and social elements of an open university campus,” said Mr Byrne. “Our level of investment and focus at International Towers is creating an unprecedented workspace environment of the future. We believe the positive impact of these elements on people’s sense of belonging, wellbeing and happiness at work can be significant.”

Lendlease International Towers Sydney Trust (LLITST) is a A$3.2 billion trust, established in 2012. It holds a 100% interest in the first two commercial towers developed and constructed by Lendlease at Barangaroo South, being Two International Towers and Three International Towers. The Trust also owns 100% interest in International House, Australia’s first engineered timber building at Barangaroo.

Advanced Technology

International Towers also provides one of the most technologically advanced work environments in Australia – offering a fast, efficient and progressive tech environment for workers and International Towers staff.

International Towers partnered with Meshed, KPMG and the Internet of Things Alliance Australia to become a part of “The Things Network Sydney” which is a global and open crowd-sourced Internet of Things data network.

Sydney CBD’s first gateway has been installed on the rooftop of Tower Three, which allows around one million points of information to be received by the building management platform, allowing air conditioning, lighting, security and CCTV to be monitored at any time, from any device, and from anywhere in the world.

Mobile reception is also fully functional within all areas of the building including the lift towers.

Sustainability Facts

International Towers is one of the most sustainable developments in Australia, and part of one of the greenest urban regeneration projects anywhere in the world.

The Barangaroo South precinct achieved a 6 Star Green Star – Communities rating in 2016, representing world leadership in the design and delivery of sustainable precincts.

Each of the towers at International Towers features 6 Star Green Star ratings for design, and are registered to achieve ratings for construction. The GBCA’s fitout will also achieve a Green Star – Interiors rating.

More broadly, the precinct will eventually boast the highest concentration of Green Star ratings in the country, with each building, as well as the 80-plus retail tenancies and office tenancies, needing to achieve Green Star ratings.

Through a combination of solar shading, water management, glass technology and context-responsive thermal performance, Two and Three International Towers sets a new standard in innovative sustainability. Each tower responds to its unique geography and environment. Built using recycled materials with a concrete plant established on-site, each tower saved more than 30,000 truck movements and 5,000 tonnes of carbon emissions during construction.

Some of the most significant sustainability features of International Towers include 6,000 rooftop solar panels and a central cooling plant that cools the building with Sydney Harbour water. This alone saves up to one million litres of water from the main supply every year.

The unique external fins that characterise the distinctive facade of the towers’ also play an important functional role, by maximising the amount of shade within the interior workspaces, therefore reducing the need for unnecessary cooling, without impacting the levels of natural light permeating through the space. Since the tower design also features ceiling heights of 2.9m, rather than 2.4m, over 20 per cent more natural light can be filtered into internal workspaces, decreasing the reliance on harsh artificial lighting.

Each of the 30,000 globes used to light the precinct are LED, making it one of the largest installations of LED lighting in Australian history.

All of the eateries in the curated casual dining precinct, ‘The Canteen’, use recyclable and combustible packaging, plus a robust recycling program for waste. These initiatives reduce almost 90 per cent of the total waste generated by the entire precinct going to landfill – well above the country average for comparable commercial precincts and buildings.

The majority of the towers’ interior fit-outs are sustainably sourced – from lounge furniture to desks; even the building umbrellas used by the concierge are sustainably sourced.

A commitment to sustainability is a core promise of existing and future tenants of the building and part of lease agreements.

The Current International Towers Community:

International Towers has organically attracted organisations that are progressive and forward thinking. The relocation of these significant enterprise groups to International Towers has been a key component of disrupting existing work practices, and establishing the framework for business innovation.

Current International Towers tenants include: KPMG and its recently-opened Innovation Lab; 2016 Australian Law Firm of the Year Gilbert + Tobin; leading global reinsurer Swiss Re; Australia’s most innovative international property and infrastructure group, LendLease, which developed International Towers One, Two and Three; and Westpac Group, demonstrating its new WorkSMART workplace strategy. Both KPMG and Westpac Group were voted Graduate Employers of 2017. Foundation tenants under the new curated tenancy model include the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and Recognise, the campaign for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

TheLeesman Index – the largest independent collection of workplace effectiveness data in the world, recently recognised the LendLease global headquarters at Barangaroo in the top six per cent of workplaces globally for workplace design, functionality and effectiveness.

International Towers General Manager, Tony Byrne said existing tenants have cultivated a game-changing ethos as a result of this move to International Towers, and have introduced highly innovative processes and workplaces to support their vision to be best-of-class within their particular industries.

“We are delighted to welcome the GBCA to our dynamic community at International Towers and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship that supports its continued growth and inspires our community of tenant partners and visitors,” he said.

GBCA CEO Romilly Madew said: “As an organisation on a dynamic growth path, International Towers offers our team of 40 staff an exciting opportunity to bring to life the workplace of the future. We applaud this approach to sustainability across the entire precinct and are excited to use our tenancy as a great showcase for what is possible within commercial buildings.”

About GBCA:

The GBCA is a not-for-profit, member-based organisation committed to developing buildings, cities and communities that are healthy, liveable, productive, resilient and sustainable. Established in 2002, the GBCA is charged with introducing and driving the adoption of sustainable practices in the Australian property industry. In 2003 GBCA successfully launched Australia’s only national, voluntary, holistic six star rating system for sustainable buildings and communities – Green Star.